Tails' tall tail tale
by Supermorff
Summary: Games universe. Tails finds that he has grown a third tail, and is worried about what this means for his status in Sonic's group of friends until he receives some advice from an unlikely source.


Tails finds that he has grown a third tail, and is worried about what this means for his status in Sonic's group of friends until he receives some advice from an unlikely source.

**Spoiler Warning:** This story is written some time after the release of the game 'Shadow the Hedgehog', and before the release of such games as 'Sonic Riders'. Despite this, it has very few spoilers, existing as it does in a potential future time. Also, I haven't played any recent games, so what would I spoil?

**Disclaimer:** Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as related characters, situations and locations, are 100 the property of Sega. How does anyone not know this?

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Tails peered out of the door. It wouldn't do to be seen just now, even if he was just running from his home to the workshop where he kept his machines. He pulled the overcoat down further and began the quick dash that would take him from one sanctuary to another. He'd learned the skills - had needed to learn them - in order to avoid being attacked by Doctor Eggman and his robots. Now he was using every bit of stealth he possessed to avoid being seen by his friends. Over the last few days he had managed to elude them with any number of ridiculous excuses: he was bed-ridden with a tropical disease he'd picked up on his last trip with Sonic; he'd just discovered an elderly relative that he needed to take care of; he'd promised to make a delivery to the other side of the planet. Sooner or later, they were going to realise that something was up, but the longer he could keep his secret a secret, the better.

He sighed with relief as he disappeared into his lab. Inside, he was safe from the prying eyes of anyone. Nobody disturbed him while he was working on the Tornado… or any of his tinker toys. Frankly, nobody was as interested in machinery as he was until it was needed… except for Doctor Eggman, of course, and he didn't really count. Nobody could consider that madman a friend. Still… Tails wasn't particularly keen for him to find out about his problem either.

Finally confident that he wasn't going to be disturbed, he unzipped his bulky overcoat and shook out his bushy tails… all three of them.

It had been a surprise, when the third tail had appeared overnight just a few days earlier. He'd fallen asleep one night with his usual two tails - perhaps a bit later than usual, but otherwise it was a fairly standard occurrence - and the next morning there'd been another tail just lying there in the bed with him. At first he'd thought it might have been a practical joke, but that theory had soon been squashed when he tried desperately to pull it off. No glue that could possibly have been used would have held so well, and no other form of attachment would have looked so natural, so Tails was forced to accept that it probably was a new tail.

In itself, a third tail wasn't much to worry about. The manner of its appearance was startling, but the thing Tails was mostly worried about was that he would have to learn to spin his tails again. He'd tried to spin them a few times - it was something he did to make him run faster, or to fly like a helicopter, although it took a lot of effort - and he found that the new tail kept getting tangled up in the others. Without that skill, he was slower than Cream and permanently grounded. With friends like Sonic, who moved fast and expected everyone to keep up (or try), how could he possibly fit in now that he was essentially the most useless member of the team?

He guessed it was puberty. It was the kind of thing he should probably have asked his parents about, but the fact that he knew nothing about his parents made that difficult. Maybe he'd only been born with a single tail, and the other had appeared at some point in the distant past, so long ago now that he couldn't even remember it. Maybe in a few more years he'd grow more tails. It was a worrying thought. With three tails he already couldn't fly and couldn't run. Four or more would probably trip him up when he tried to walk or keep him permanently stationary.

"Hey, Tails! Are you in here?" Tails jumped suddenly, looking for a place to hide. The only place available, however, was the open cockpit of his Tornado plane, and he could never hide himself completely in that. Hearing Sonic's lazy footfalls getting closer, he decided hastily that it was better than nothing and jumped in. He was only lucky that Sonic wasn't in a rush, and that he liked the sound of his voice just enough to announce his presence before he walked in.

"Oh, there you are," said the blue hedgehog as he rounded the door and noticed Tails trying to look busy in the pilot's seat of his old plane. "Me and some of the guys are thinking about heading to the city. You fancy coming? There may be racing involved."

"Gee, Sonic, I'd love to, really. But I've just got so much work to do here, you know."

"Are you okay, pal?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Fine."

"It's just you keep shifting in your seat. Are you sitting on something sharp?"

"Oh, that. Yeah I am."

"So why don't you get out of the plane and move it?"

"Uh… actually, it's not so bad. In fact, probably what it is is that I think I'm getting a stomach ache from all the fast food I ate yesterday."

"And you're still working on your prized plane?" Tails squirmed slightly and under Sonic's gaze. "Wow, that's dedication! Oh well, if you change your mind, you'll have to catch us up!" And suddenly he turned and vanished, leaving only a blue streak behind him as he ran.

Tails pushed a few strands of hair up out of his eyes and climbed out of the plane. He had considered surgery, briefly, but he didn't really like the idea of asking any doctor to cut off one of his body parts, especially since the only doctor he really knew was the maniacal Doctor Eggman. Then again, Tails had frequently doubted Eggman's credentials. Surely no medical school on the planet would have accepted him. Maybe he'd applied for a mail order course in something like engineering, but even then the examiners would probably have been concerned at the little doodles of dead hedgehogs and notes in the margin proclaiming that he was soon going to be ruler of the world. Frankly, Tails didn't believe that formal qualifications were that important. He liked what he did, and if it helped his friends then so much the better.

The only other option was to tie the additional tail up and keep it hidden beneath a set of clothes. That would raise suspicions too, however, as besides his shoes and gloves he hardly ever wore clothes. They were little more than a burden to him, weighing him down when he tried to fly.

No, there really was no chance of keeping this hidden. Sooner or later, people would start to find out, and he decided then that before that happened he would tell everyone, and that he would do it on his own terms. But how to go about it? The thought of telling everyone at once was too embarrassing to even consider. Sonic probably wouldn't understand, and neither Cream nor Amy was especially good at keeping secrets (Amy was more likely to shout out his secret to the world in plain shock). And how exactly was he supposed to raise the subject? "Hey, you'll never guess what I found between my legs this morning?" It didn't sound quite right.

His machines were usually a great comfort to him in times of stress, but now they weren't helping at all. He had to get out, get away from everything, just for a while. He had to walk where he no longer needed to think about his new tail. And with everyone else in the city this was a perfect opportunity.

Tails was in a grey mood as he wandered through the woods that surrounded his workshop, and he let it be clear for all to see by kicking his feet and pouting and hanging his head low on his shoulders. The problem of his tail was gnawing at him. For now he was wearing a bulky coat to hide it, and frankly the weather was too hot for that.

He wasn't watching where he was going, but he had lived in these woods his whole life, and he trusted his feet not to lead him astray even though he wasn't paying attention himself. However, someone else was paying attention, and Tails nearly leapt out of his fur with fright when he heard a deep, gravely voice barely a foot away from him.

"That is a nice coat, Miles Prower. I must say I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you would be in the city with Sonic and your friends." Tails spun around.

"Sh-shadow? What are you doing here?" Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic's black-and-red doppelganger and the self-styled Ultimate Lifeform, was standing beside him, arms hanging down straight by his sides.

"I had come to find some solitude, to escape the crowds of this world." Shadow paused. "I suspect you were looking for the same thing?"

"I… uh, yes. You know, you can call me Tails. Everyone else does." Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"Very well. That is an interesting new appendage you have, Tails." Tails gasped. In his surprise at Shadow's sudden appearance, he had forgotten to keep his coat pulled down over his rump, and now all three tails were hanging free.

"It's not what it looks like!" Tails protested, at which Shadow merely shrugged.

"I'm sure it isn't."

Tails hesitated. Shadow wasn't the kind of person that he would usually confide in…But then, he did need to talk to someone, and if Shadow was skilled at anything it was keeping things to himself. Suddenly, Tails found himself revealing everything: how he'd woken up with the extra tail, his panic, the loss of his flying ability, and how he was scared that the others might reject him. Shadow calmly and patiently listen to everything, nodding to show his understanding, taking everything in. Finally, he stopped speaking, and waited with baited breath to see what Shadow would do.

"Whatever I think of Sonic," Shadow said after a time, "I do not believe he would turn against you merely because of this new tail."

"But what if I can't help him any more? What am I going to do if he decides to leave me behind on his adventures because I can't defend myself any more, or because I'm holding him back?"

"You have other skills, Tails. Since I have known you, you have never relied solely on your flight to help Sonic. Anyway, you may be looking at this the wrong way. Can you remember how you learned to fly in the first place?"

"I don't know. It just sort of happened one day."

"Surely you cannot expect this new transition to be any easier than that? It will take some time. You are attempting to fly as you used to, using only two of your tails, only a fraction of the potential you now possess. Flying with three tails may mean you must acquire new skills, but once you have mastered them I am sure that your speed and your stamina in the air will be greatly increased."

"But what if I never learn these skills? What if I can never run fast or fly ever again?"

"It is possible that these abilities are lost, but with your new tails you must have gained new abilities, ones that better suit the individual you have become in these years you have fought alongside Sonic and his allies. Perhaps it signifies that you are no longer merely a fox that can keep pace with a hedgehog hero, but a hero in your own capacity, with your own unique strengths and weaknesses." Tails felt a smile lift the corners of his mouth.

"Thanks, Shadow. You've been a big help."

"Tails, your greatest asset has always been your circle of friends. You each care for each other, protect each other. It would be a shame for you to lose that closeness because of a trivial thing like this extra appendage."

"What about you, Shadow? You could join us too!"

"No. I do not believe I am well suited to join a group like yours. I am a weapon, that is all, neither capable of giving nor of receiving the friendships that you share with the others. Also, Sonic annoys me." Tails laughed, then on a whim he shucked his coat and placed it over his arm.

"I think you're selling yourself short. How many times have you helped save the world? Or done so yourself? There's a place for you with us, if you want it." Shadow closed his eyes and allowed himself a brief, tight-lipped smile.

"Perhaps, but not yet. Go now, Tails. I think I will stay here, just a little while longer." Tails hopped away, looking back over his shoulder to give a parting wave.

"Okay, bye Shadow! Thanks for all your help!" The black hedgehog nodded once then turned away, left to his solitude once more.

Tails settled into a jog as he headed home. Maybe he couldn't use his tails as a rotor just yet, but it didn't seem to matter so much any more. He would learn how to again, or he wouldn't, but no matter what happened his friends would accept him for who he was. He was determined, and his mechanical skills were only improving with time. He'd find a way to help them, he knew it.

"So," he said aloud with a grin. "Which way to the city? I hear there may be racing involved."

And he raced off through the forest, with hope.

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I loved this idea when I came up with it. For now, this brief one-shot is everything there is. Maybe someday I'll know what happens to Tails (or even Shadow) next, but not for some time. Thanks for the reviews, though.


End file.
